Article September 22, 1917 Issue

Confidences

CASSIUS M. LOOMIS

When we bestow a kindness upon a fellow being, we do well; when we impart to another's ear a confidence — this is something which calls for the utmost caution. Not that a sincere, trustful confidence is or can be at all times harmful, but there is a discretionary boundary or limit to all human interchange of words.

Every conscientious worker in the field of Christian Science hears much of the rights and wrongs of those who ask for help. Bound by the sacred ethics of our Leader's teaching (see Manual, Art. VIII, Sect. 22), a confidence thus conferred must go no farther, and there is a self-evident reason for this. Should the confidence thus given in trust be repeated to another than the practitioner, the demonstration of healing may become uncertain, as this third person may be overly confident of the healer's work, or his thought may be that of doubt, or unbelief, or covert opposition, and thoughts thus centered upon the case may become a hindrance, and can never be a help. In brief, the interference of an extraneous mentality must needs be overcome before the field can be successfully cleared for action.

In Christian Science only the patient, the practitioner, and God are connected with a treatment, and it is better, whenever possible, that no outside mentality should even know that the work has been undertaken. After the healing has been accomplished, testimony regarding it may be given in public or printed in our periodicals, thus imparting to the needy inquirer the truth of the healing, which is all the more effective for being impersonal, so far as the practitioner's name is concerned. Further-more, when a confidence is in any measure betrayed it ceases to be a confidence; it is in reality neither more nor less nor less than a breach of trust, wholly unwarranted in Christian ethics.

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